Strategic planning starts for council

Ridgecrest City Manager Dennis Speer moved forward Tuesday night in outlining the process and goals for the city council as it sets up a strategic vision for the 2014 fiscal year and beyond.

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Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

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Posted Oct. 4, 2013 at 11:50 AM

Posted Oct. 4, 2013 at 11:50 AM

By Jack Barnwell

CITY EDITOR

jbarnwell@ridgecrestca.com

Ridgecrest City Manager Dennis Speer moved forward Tuesday night in outlining the process and goals for the city council as it sets up a strategic vision for the 2014 fiscal year and beyond.

Using a PowerPoint presentation and several metaphors, Speer said that a strategic plan will set the city on a path of where it wants to see itself five or six years from now.

Speer said that a strategic plan is a very specific document outlining what the city wanted to do, as opposed to a vision.

“A vision is much like dream,” Speer said. “My father had a saying that a dream was like a rocking chair. It may give you something to do, but you still stay in one place.”

A strategic plan, on the other hand, is much like a map, Speer said, which provides a path. Paths, in turn, equate to progress. All of it is condensed into a streamline set of points that the city can reference.

Speer further stressed that a strategic plan is fluid and responds to dynamic changes.

“It moves forward and backward before final decisions are made,” Speer said.

Elements of the strategic planning process include an analysis of a mission, values and visions, all components for a successful whole, Speer said.

The process includes taking a hard look at the external and internal mechanisms that drive the city, from employees to services to the infrastructure set in place, how to consider competition, and calculating the political and economic landscapes.

Speer added that competition is a big factor, especially when considering other cities in the equation.

“We are in competition because the citizens of Ridgecrest have expectations and those expectations are based on their understanding of what other cities provide,” Speer said. Those expectations include services, conditions of the roads and activities.

He added the city needs to answer the concerns of the public and consider certain questions, especially when considering strategic alternatives for a plan.

Four expectations are apparent: Roads, changes of customers, reduce the uncertainty of our services, and government policy changes.

A city has a number of options when considering a strategic plan, including keeping the status quo.

“I believe a lot of cities get lost in that option of doing nothing,” Speer said.

Other options might fit the city better, but he warned that the place should be as condensed a plan as possible, versus one that is more shelf-ready.

“When cities develop comparable studies, I can tell you that there are documents,” Speer said. “The point I want to make is the bulkier the report, the more shelf-ready it is. It'll be put on a shelf and reviewed for one day.”

Page 2 of 3 - While Ridgecrest has conducted a number of surveys and goals over the years, and has a lot of resources it can draw upon to help establish one, Speer said the city “does not have a true strategic plan.”

Council, public debate mayor proposal

Following the presentation, Mayor Dan Clark circulated a draft strategic plan to other council members that he believed would help set things in the right direction.

Included in the mission and vision statement were several options, including keeping the city solvent, providing services to the city, and supporting Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in its mission.

Councilman Steven Morgan, who had been through strategic plans in the past, said the council should not commit to anything in writing until more discussion and input has been conducted. He added that the core values from past discussions would likely not change much.

“I don't think the top three values are going to change much, and that is safe towns, good roads, and toilets that flush,” Morgan said.

Councilman Jim Sanders, who is familiar with strategic plans in his day job, concurred with the need for public input.

“This would involve more brainstorming and input and listening. It's got to be a whole process,” Sanders said. “I would prefer to start off with a clean slate. We would gain a lot in the process if we did that.”

Ridgecrest residents weighed in on the matter with one addition: Fiscal diversity and solvency.

“We’ve got to get financially stable, curtail retirement expenses within five years, and curtail the roof expenses of operating a city,” George “Andy” Anderson said. That includes negotiations with the city’s unions and “drawing a line in the sand” on expenses. “We are going to have to live with the consequences but we have to draw a line in the sand of what we can afford.”

Carole Vaughn drove home an important factor by advocating for diversity in the city’s economy. She said the city couldn’t continue to afford relying on NAWS China Lake as its primary source of income.

“Our number one goal and mission is job development, it is what will make this government work,” Vaughn said. “We need to find diversity and make it work.”

Vaughn said the efforts out at California Unmmaned Systems Portal team to turn Inyokern Airport into a hub for development of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles is one such industry.

“We must absolutely be open to new business and take a hard look at how we are operating,” Vaughn said. “We don't need to come out and beg corporate business to come in if we have job development … They will come to us.”

Page 3 of 3 - Council agreed to set Oct. 26 from 9-noon to allow the public to weigh in ideas for its mission and vision statements, and help create goals for the overall strategic plan. A tentative location is the Kerr McGee Community Center.